UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1244 



Washington, D. C. 



July 31, 1924 



FORAGE CROPS IN RELATION TO THE AGRICULTURE OF THE SEMI- 

 ARID PORTION OF THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS. 1 



By R. A. Oakley and H. L. Westover, Agronomists, Office of Forage-Crop 

 Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



The region denned 2 



History 2 



Climate 3 



Soils 10 



Agricultural resources 12 



Experiments with forage crops 17 



Fodder and silage crops 18 



Hay and pasture crops 25 



Miscellaneous crops 44 



A summation of the possibilities of forage 

 production 



Eatio of forage crops to grain and the size of 

 the farm unit 



Possibilities of combining livestock produc- 

 tion with grain farming 



Economic conditions and the need for a 

 change in the type of farming 



Summary 



Page. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The raising of livestock is generally considered essential to success- 

 ful dry farming in regions where the production of cereals or other 

 crop plants is uncertain. Where crop failures come frequently and 

 sometimes successively for two or more years, some feature must 

 be included in the farming system that will insure a more dependable 

 income for the farmer. The hazardous conditions under which crop 

 production is being attempted in the drier parts of the northern 

 Great Plains make livestock necessary not only to stabilize the 

 income of the farmer but to provide for him a respectable living. 

 The experience of the past five years has shown that grain farming 

 alone will not do this. However, few, if any, sections of the northern 

 Great Plains where dry farming is now practiced have a supply of 

 native forage sufficient for livestock needs throughout the year. 

 Forage crops must therefore be grown if the raising of livestock is 

 to be successfully conducted. Each kind of livestock requires a 

 different minimum quantity, but all are dependent to some degree 

 upon harvested forage. 



In this bulletin, the relation of cultivated forage crops to the 

 agriculture of the northern part of the Great Plains region will 

 be considered, with special reference to the need for harvested forage. 



1 The writers wish to express their appreciation for data and help given. by the Bureau of Soils, by the 

 Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry, and by the Bureau of 

 Agricultural Economics. 



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